SOCAR to start drilling appraisal well at Karabakh field by year-end

Azerbaijan’s state oil company SOCAR will start drilling the KPS-4 appraisal well at the Karabakh oil and gas field in 3Q2018, Project Manager Nusrat Aliyev said.

He made the remarks at a public hearing on the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) document, prepared as part of a project to drill an appraisal well in the water area of the Karabakh field in the Azerbaijani sector of the Caspian Sea.

According to him, the initial design work will be completed at the field by the end of this month.

Aliyev said that drilling operations will be carried out as part of the agreement signed in December 2017 between SOCAR and Statoil on the main commercial principles of the risk-service contract for the development of the Karabakh oil and gas field.

The Karabakh oil and gas field, opened in 2000, is located 130 kilometers east of Baku. The depth of the sea varies in the range of 250-450 meters at the field. The initial oil reserves of the field are estimated at 100 million tons.

SOCAR is the operator of the field’s development. The company expects to obtain the first production from the field in 2021.